Closing of Sweet Marie's

[d1realking]

My mother and I recently opened a family-owned restaurant & bakery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  It is Sweet Marie's Cafe & Cakery at 1426 E 71st Street.  We have everything we own invested in this restaurant, and were forcibly removed by the Tulsa sheriff's office on March 31, 2006.  Prior to our eviction, we tried to get some attention to our situation from both Mayoral candidates offices over the past few months.  We received the "do you really think they have time to deal with this during a political campaign" response from both camps.  We have tried to enlist the aide of TEDC (Tulsa Economic and Development Committee), the Cherokee Nation (we are a 100% Native American owned business), SCORE, the SBA (we are supposed to have an SBA loan already, but it is hard to get any real information on what that means or what rights of ours they protect.  We are 100% minority owned, 65% women owned.), and many other groups that are supposed to have answers.  All we have received are the same canned responses, which primarily was, we needed to contact someone else.
 
I have tried hard to keep my spirits up throughout this entire debacle, but I fear I am losing the fight.  My mother is physically ill due to the stress of this situation.  Why is it a property owner that has a guy run out on his lease in the middle of the night and strip the property bare can get front page run and his face on every local news outlet, but a regular old Tulsa westsider that tries to do what is right can not get anyone to so much as listen?  We have hundreds of pictures and receipts documenting our work and personal investment, and dozens of witnesses to what we had and were getting accomplished, but these facts seem to mean nothing.  

We spent eleven months renovating a rundown, dilapidated restaurant and turned it into a handmade work of art.  After our being all but destroyed by our banker (the CEO of Community Bank called the property owner personally and acknowledged responsibility for our inability to meet our financial obligations after opening and advocated not only our ability to recompensate him for rent owed, but also our chances for success.), the property owner acknowledged this and repaid our most sincere efforts by agreeing to terms on the back rent, then humiliating us and  forcibly taking the property just as our Friday lunch rush was beginning.  We were later told this was on instruction from his attorneys, and the property company handled it in this way to avert us from removing any contents prior to our forced eviction.  We had worked on the restaurant for over a year and had our entire lives invested in it.  We were viable and had already shown the propensity to create positive revenue.  We had over a dozen employees, and needed to hire a dozen more.  It was not like we were going anywhere.  The property owner was beneficiary of a $200,000 extreme makeover (during which we also paid five months rent and common area maintenance...over $35,000), confiscated over $300,000 in fixtures, refinished and brand new furniture, brand new equipment, our entire inventory (which was destroyed by the property owner), and all our personal property and the whole time did not put out one dime.  The property management company refused promised necessary repairs to common areas and did not even pay for window washing.

The property company then keeps our financial records, bookkeeping, contact information, bills...absolutely everything.   The property company and representing attorneys have refused to turn over anything and in fact have averted any contact.   They have made this very personal and we are not sure why.  They are accruing damages against us while holding our financial paperwork hostage which, in turn, is costing us more money.  We cannot file our taxes, figure payroll, or contact our trade creditors.  They are not out to simply bankrupt us, they are attempting to destroy us completely.  We are trying to get legal help and all we are being told is how much money they are going to throw at the lawsuit, and how many attorneys their firm has.  All opposing parties have millions of dollars at their disposal, and we have nothing.  And they are coming after our nothing.  These people are criminals.  They are ruthless, and have some agenda we just do not understand.  I cannot speak for everyone else, but I am pretty sure they would have any of us mere mortals in jail if we conducted ourselves in this manner...

That's the reader's digest version. You can read the whole story on our website at www.sweetmariescafe.com and judge for yourself.  I know it is a bit lengthy, but it is all relevant, and I felt some background and attention to detail were necessary. We are being told by attorneys we have sought counsel from there is little we can do other than bankrupt our business and declare personal bankruptcy.  We have been told due to the positions held by the offending parties we could never expect a fair hearing in front of an unbiased judiciary, if even we were to get the chance to be heard.  We are being decimated, and instead of someone being held responsible for the damage inflicted on us, additional damages are being accrued against us daily.  We have been told repeatedly the law is not about right and wrong, and the deck is seriously stacked against us.  We have expended all our resources and they are now just waiting us out.  Our home and all our personal assets and belongings are in imminent peril.  We are desperate for help.